Senior banker Nihal Welikala has returned to the National Development Bank PLC (NDB) as an Independent Non-Executive Director, subject to the approval of the banking regulator, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

Welikala worked for the NDB group from January 1999 until March 2008, including seven years as Chief Executive Officer during a period of structural and strategic change. Subsequently, he worked for the group as senior adviser to the CEP and was a board Director from January to March 2010.
Before NDB, he was employed at Citibank in Colombo from 1981 to 1999, including 11 years as CEO, where he was the first Sri Lankan to hold this post.
Currently he works as an adviser to the Public Enterprise Development Minister on the subject of state-owned banks.

He is also on the boards of three privately-owned companies, namely AMW Capital Leasing Ltd, which is owned by the Alfutaim group of Dubai, and two companies within the Barteet group.
He also works as an independent consultant in the financial and investment sectors including assignments for foreign investors and multilateral agencies. 

Welikala holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sri Lanka and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales and Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka.
Post qualification as a chartered accountant in the UK, he worked for seven years at its London office in the audit and tax departments.